Hollywood Popular Artists

Jun 13th 2013, 17:00

Back in March, MGM announced that they had acquired the rights for the "Tomb Raider" video game franchise from Paramount, who let their hold on them expire after "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" failed to find audiences. (That title certainly didn't help.)

Now we have word from Variety that Marti Noxon, best known from her work on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," has been hired to write the script for the new adventure of Lara Croft.

Why is this such a big deal, you ask? Hiring Noxon seems like a deliberate move to indicate what direction the new "Tomb Raider" movies will go in, something that should please the game series' fans, especially those who liked the latest game.

As we discussed when MGM acquired the rights, making a move right now to revitalize "Tomb Raider" is hopefully an attempt to reinvent the series in light of the recent success of another badass female protagonist, Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games." The most recent entry in the game series takes Croft back to her origins, making her stronger and less of the pure eye-candy that her older polygon models cast her as. Plus, her use of a bow and arrow probably took more than a little inspiration from Katniss.

You simply do not hire Marti Noxon to write a dumb, sexist "Tomb Raider" rehash. This is hopefully the first sign of a more modern take on the character, one that gamers can be proud of, instead of embarrassed by, and ideally one that young girls can actually look up to for her character and not her supernatural cup size.

What are your hopes for a new "Tomb Raider" movie? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!

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